W.Va. churches seek peace, prayer in coalfields

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) _ Carol Warren believes cooler heads need to prevail in the debate over how West Virginia's mountains are mined to feed a nation worried about energy.

As a federal appeals court prepares to consider a case that could change mining in the state, Warren and the West Virginia Council of Churches are calling for prayer and fasting as a way of encouraging people to be temperate and peaceful regardless of how the court rules.

"We aren't anti-mining," said Warren, who organized the Council's Peace in the Coalfields campaign. "Putting some spiritual energy into a good outcome is a good thing to do."

The Council's campaign is the latest environmental call to action by West Virginia's churches. For the past decade, church officials have repeatedly said they have an obligation to take stands on issues like mountaintop removal mining because the Bible teaches the importance of stewardship over God's creations.

Jim Tonkowich, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Religion and Democracy, says the conflict between protecting and tapping the nation's natural resources will increase as the demand for energy increases.

"I think we're going to see a great deal of confrontation," he said. "It's more than energy and environment, it's tied up in national security as well."

The case before the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest in a series of cases stemming from mountaintop removal mining. The case focuses on whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is following the federal Clean Water Act when issuing permits governing the disposal of excess rock and dirt from mining operations into fills that bury waterways.

The Sept. 23 hearing in Richmond, Va., specifically focuses on U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers' 2007 ruling that rescinded five corps-issued permits. Chambers ruled the corps failed to adequately determine environmental damage prior to issuing the permits. The corps argues that more extensive reviews weren't necessary and mitigation techniques such as restoring streams would offset losses.

Since then, Chambers has issued another ruling in a separate valley fill case citing similar concerns about the corps.

In the days leading up to the appeal court's hearing, the Council wants church leaders to call on their congregations to contemplate the issue. People are being encouraged to fast for a day or "whatever is appropriate," said the Rev. Dennis Sparks, the Council's executive director.

"There needs to be huge awareness," he said. "Our pastors need to stand up in their pulpits."

Peace is necessary because the court rulings often pit jobs against the environment, Sparks said.

West Virginia is the nation's second largest coal producer and it depends heavily on taxes and jobs created by the industry. Mining employs about 29,000 people and generates more than $300 million a year in severance taxes.

Yet as coal producers turn more to surface mining, the environment is affected. A 2005 federal study said mountaintop removal and valley fills had buried 1,200 miles of headwater streams in Appalachia.

Given West Virginia's natural resources, mining will be a part of the state's economy for a long time, Sparks concedes.

"It's a spiritual matter in this state and it needs to be treated that way as well as an economic matter," he said.

But mixing natural resource extraction and religion is inappropriate and only serves to expand what already is a divisive issue, said Bill Raney, head of the state Coal Association.

"I feel strongly that we are practicing stewardship," he said.

Mountaintop removal and its accompanying valley fills are allowed by federal and state law and "I contend we are abiding by laws and regulations," he said.

"I'm concerned about it because the great people who work in our industry are such strong Christians," he said. "They don't want to damage the earth."

Tonkowich said its natural churches would become involved in the energy debate because "on some levels these are questions of high morality." If churches get involved, congregations need to approach the issues based on the facts, not just ideology, he said.

And the facts, Raney said, are that this country needs energy and West Virginia has the opportunity to become a "power center."

"The Lord," he said, "placed the minerals in the mountains and we need to utilize them."